FCBC senior pastor Lawrence Khong said the church will compensate the woman on MOM's orders, but will make it clear to the ministry that it will not concede that the dismissal was unjust.

SINGAPORE - One of Singapore's biggest independent churches has been ordered by the Government to compensate a female church worker fired because of her alleged adulterous relationship.

The female employee at Faith Community Baptist Church (FCBC) had gone to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) after she was sacked last September when the church found out she was pregnant with the child of another church employee.

The ministry said that it looked into the complaint and found that the woman was "dismissed without sufficient cause within six months of her delivery date".

The church did not give her the salary and maternity benefits she was entitled to under the Employment Act.

The Act protects an expectant mother from her fourth month of pregnancy.

If she is sacked without sufficient cause during this period, her employer must pay her maternity benefits.

In this case, Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin directed the church to pay her about $7,000, including maternity benefits.

The woman was understood to have been about seven months pregnant when she was sacked.

The church refused to do so, claiming that its employees and members were expected to adhere to certain moral standards.

The impasse dragged on for nearly a year before the church finally relented after a discussion with MOM on Monday.